...ahh...waking up to the sound of the ocean...it never gets old!

This morning we were moving to another apartment in Villa Ella called Suite Sunrise.  As much as we wanted to stay in the beautiful suite we were in, it was already booked so we needed to clear out, walk down a flight of stairs and move closer to the ocean.  Rough.

We had scheduled a massages and we were really looking forward to them until we woke up with severe sunburns.  There was no way to cancel and I figured that there had to be some part of my body that wasn't burned so we both bucked up and went for it.



I have to say that even with a sunburn it was a pretty relaxing massage and being outside listening to the ocean made it even more enjoyable.

We moved into the new suite and made ourselves at home.  It wasn't as big as the suite we had been staying in until now but it was beautifully decorated and even closer to the ocean so I wasn't complaining.











Yep, no worries here!

Here is a little video I took of it all, to give you a better idea of just how close to the ocean we really are...

We headed out mid-day, going past our neighboring city Oyster Pond. 



Today we were going to Friars Bay, a remote beach near Grand Case where you can walk on a trail to get to Happy Bay where we had heard there was good snorkeling.  It didn't take us too long to get to Friars Bay and by the time we arrived we were starving.  Lucky for us there were a couple bars on the beach with mouth watering menus.



It was a pretty low key beach with very gentle waves and a lot of families out enjoying the day.



Not a bad view while munching down on tasty fish kebabs!





This scene never gets old!



We asked for confirmation on how to get to Happy Bay and then started up the rugged trail, passing a couple of tethered donkeys.  Cute!



The trail was actually a bit tough in flip flops but we gingerly made our way up the little hill.



At the top of the hill we were rewarded by a beautiful view!  It was quite peaceful here, away from civilization and just the sounds of birds chirping around us.





Happy Bay was beautiful and even had a one man rustic bar at one end selling very reasonable ice cold beers.



I think we might have found paradise.



There were only a few other people on the beach and we settled in enjoying the solitude.  Unfortunately with solitude comes the need to be aware and we were careful not to leave our things unattended, which probably was a good idea.  Not too long after we were there a local came out of the trees and just seemed to be standing near the tree line just watching everyone.  It made us feel uncomfortable enough to keep an eye on him while trying to do some snorkeling one at a time, which really isn't as much fun as discovering all the creatures of the ocean together.  We finally ended up leaving, as it was too stressful to sit and be paranoid, who knows; maybe this person was just trying to relax as well.  Better safe than sorry!

Animals on the island roam free in most parts; we had to drive through a couple of cows to leave the beach area to get to the main road.



The roads in St. Maarten are pretty basic outside of the towns but not much different than our country roads in Tuscany.  



The drivers were much tamer on the island, driving pretty sanely and slow, the only thing was that they often stopped in the middle of the road to talk to someone or pick people up and it didn't seem to matter to anyone else that they were stopping traffic.



For dinner we dressed up and went into Grand Case, a city on the French side quite famous for its cuisine.  Our hosts suggested we go to Le Pressoir, a well known French restaurant with traditional food located in an old house that had been renovated that was a sort of Creole/plantation style.  It definitely was nice and I'm glad we dressed up!





The food was fantastic; it was more than just delicious!

We shared a bottle of lovely rose wine, something Keith and I are starting to really be into when the weather is warm.



The food was just all so amazing and beautifully presented, I couldn't have asked for a better meal.

...nor a more romantic island environment!

At one point Keith thought that he was going to share my meal but he seemed to adapt well to his empty plate...

Dessert was this crazy-creamy-sour-berry-drippy-caramelized-top thingy that was incredibly good but too rich for either one of us to finish, even though we shared!



We waddled out into the humid and warm island evening, completely satisfied and feeling rather fat and drowsy.  Gee, I wonder why?!  We made it safely back to our home away from home and quickly called it a night practically fell asleep with our clothes on.  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..................................

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